‘Jabulani!’: Inspiring Evening of Stars, Readings and Song

Joan Baez, Lebo M, Hugh Masekela, BeBe Winans and Stevie Wonder were the featured artists at “Jabulani! Freedom Rising” at the Wiltern Theatre on Monday, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the nonprofit support organization Artists for a New South Africa.

But it was the guest of honor, South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who established the real focus of the event in a stirring speech highlighted by a passionate affirmation of the changes that have taken place in his native country over the past decade: “I come,” Tutu said, “on behalf of those who never thought they would stand tall in the land of their birth and vote.”

The musicians worked hard to sustain a similarly inspirational level. Baez was all steely resolve in a velvet sound; Lebo M and Winans added stirring choral numbers; Masekela brought the packed crowd to its feet with a too-brief set highlighted by his vigorous call and response vocalizing; and Wonder, as always, generated the kind of musical and emotional energy required to bring such a large event to an appropriate, all-join-in climax.

In many respects, however, it was the smaller moments in the well-planned, efficiently produced program that had the most impact. Between the musical numbers, a series of readings from a variety of South African sources provided brief but telling insights.

Obviously, it was dramatically effective to have them read by a long line of celebrities such as Sidney Poitier, Ossie Davis, Julia Ormond, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Mary Steenburgen and others. But the content of what they read--Nelson Mandela’s prison memoirs, excerpts from the remarkable South African constitution, bits and fragments of poetry and drama--and the stirring video clips of South African history were what really mattered inthis memorable evening of affirmation.